If your loved one is a veteran, VA benefits for senior care in Connecticut can pay up to $2,874 a month in Aid and Attendance to a married veteran. VA can also help pay for home care and for care at the Rocky Hill veterans home. The challenge usually isn't eligibility. It's knowing what to ask for.

This guide covers every VA program that helps pay for or provide senior care, how to access them in Connecticut, and what happens when VA care isn't enough on its own.

In This Guide

VA Senior Care Benefits in Connecticut: Long-Term Care Options

The VA offers multiple long-term care programs. Access isn't automatic once a veteran is enrolled: VA also has to conclude the veteran needs that specific service for their ongoing treatment and personal care, and the service, or a space in the care setting, has to be available near them. That list isn't closed, either. VA says it may also consider other factors, like the veteran's service-connected disability status or insurance coverage.

Home Based Primary Care (HBPC)

A VA doctor-led health care team provides services such as nursing care, physical therapy, and help with daily tasks in the veteran's own home. For a veteran who struggles to get to a clinic, that brings VA care to the house.

Adult Day Health Care

Veterans attend a structured daytime program that provides social activities, companionship, recreation, care, and support. It also gives family caregivers reliable daytime respite. Programs may be at VA facilities or contracted community adult day centers.

Community Living Centers (VA Nursing Homes)

Community Living Centers are VA nursing centers designed to feel like home, providing nursing-home-level care. They take both short-term and long-term stays, and a CLC is one of the places VA provides overnight respite care.

Community Nursing Home Program

The VA contracts with community (non-VA) nursing homes so veterans can get nursing home care near home. For nursing home care specifically, VA says whether its benefits help pay depends on the veteran's income and the level of their service-connected disability. The VA covers some extended care under a veteran's standard VA health benefits, and the veteran may still owe a copay: there is no copay for the first 21 days of geriatric or extended care in a 12-month period, and from the 22nd day the VA sets the copay from the level of care and the financial information the veteran gives on VA Form 10-10EC. That liability isn't universal. Some veterans don't have to pay these copays at all because of their income level or other special eligibility factors, and a veteran with any compensable service-connected disability rating is exempt from extended-care copayments outright.,

Respite Care

Respite gives a family caregiver a temporary break. All enrolled veterans are eligible for VA respite care if they meet the clinical criteria for it and it's available, but if a community agency, adult day health care center, or nursing home provides it, the veteran must also meet community care eligibility. Respite can be in-home (a substitute caregiver comes to the house, or the veteran attends an adult day health care program) or a nursing-home stay, in a CLC or community nursing home, while the family is away for a few days. VA describes both overnight and daily respite as available up to 30 days each calendar year. A Primary Family Caregiver approved under VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers receives at least 30 days of respite a year, which is a separate rule.

Respite isn't necessarily free. Unless the veteran is exempt (for example, with a compensable service-connected disability), the first 21 days of extended care in a 12-month period carry no copay, and after that VA can charge up to $97 a day for institutional respite and $15 a day for in-home respite or adult day health care. To learn the actual copay, contact the veteran's VA social worker or case manager to complete VA Form 10-10EC (Application for Extended Care Services). For help and referrals, family caregivers can call VA's Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Not sure which VA program fits your family's situation? Chat with Brevy to get a personalized recommendation.

The Connecticut State Veterans Home

Connecticut's single State Veterans Home is the main campus in Rocky Hill, run by the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs (CT DVA), at 287 West Street. The campus runs nursing care and two residential programs:

  • The Sgt. John L. Levitow Healthcare Center, which CT DVA describes as a skilled nursing facility licensed by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at its highest 5-star rating, and certified annually as a State Veterans Home by the federal Veterans Administration. It cares for veterans with acute and chronic conditions that need daily medical management, including cancer, cardiac disease, COPD, dementia, stroke, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular diseases.
  • The Veterans Affairs Residential Facility, which offers temporary, supportive living in a community setting with rehabilitation services and programs.
  • Patriots Landing, a temporary, safe place for Connecticut veterans, their spouses, and their children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

To qualify for CT DVA residential services, a person must have been honorably discharged from, or released under honorable conditions from, active service in the Armed Forces, and must be a current Connecticut resident or have been a Connecticut resident at the time of enlistment or induction. Getting into the Levitow Healthcare Center is a separate, stricter test. According to the National Association of State Veterans Homes' Connecticut listing, the veteran applies in advance, submits a medical history and physical exam, passes an eligibility check, and must have a chronic condition that needs skilled nursing care or 24-hour help and supervision with daily activities. Contact CT DVA for current availability and admission policies.

VA Aid and Attendance

Aid and Attendance is an increased monthly payment added to a VA pension, for veterans and surviving spouses who get a pension and need aid and attendance, such as help with bathing, feeding, and dressing.

2026 Rates

Category Maximum Annual Pension Rate
Veteran, no dependents Up to $29,093
Veteran with one dependent Up to $34,488
Two married veterans, both qualifying for A&A Up to $46,143
Housebound veteran, no dependents Up to $21,313
Surviving spouse, no dependents Up to $18,697

These rates are effective December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026. The VA publishes them as annual ceilings, not flat checks: the payment is the rate minus the claimant's countable income for VA purposes. Pension is paid monthly, and by regulation the monthly rate is that difference divided by 12 and rounded down to the whole dollar. VA itself publishes one monthly figure, $2,874 (the rate it uses for asset-transfer penalty periods), which is the $34,488 one-dependent rate divided by 12.

Who Qualifies

To be eligible, the veteran must have no dishonorable discharge, and must meet all of the following:

  • Meet the wartime service requirement, with at least 1 day during a wartime period: at least 90 days of active duty for service that started before September 8, 1980; for enlisted service that started after September 7, 1980, at least 24 months or the full period called or ordered to active duty (with some exceptions); or, for an officer who started after October 16, 1981, without 24 months of prior active duty
  • Meet at least one of four conditions, any one of which satisfies the test on its own: at least 65 years old; a permanent and total disability; a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability; or getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income
  • Meet at least one aid-and-attendance need: needing another person's help with daily activities like bathing, feeding, and dressing; having to stay in bed, or spend much of the day in bed, because of illness; being in a nursing home because of lost mental or physical abilities related to a disability; or very limited eyesight (5/200 or less in both eyes even with glasses or contacts, or a visual field of 5 degrees or less)
  • Have a net worth below $163,699, a figure VA calculates from the claimant's and their dependents' assets and annual income together, excluding the primary home and a vehicle

The VA enforces a 3-year look-back period on asset transfers.

How to Apply

The Aid and Attendance request itself goes on VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), whose examination information section a medical examiner fills out. That form covers Aid and Attendance that will be added to monthly compensation benefits as well as Aid and Attendance added to a pension.

What follows is the pension route, the one VA frames as available if you get a VA pension. On that route, a wartime veteran who isn't already receiving VA pension also files Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), which is the means-tested wartime pension application. If the Aid and Attendance would instead be added to monthly compensation, 21P-527EZ is the wrong form, so confirm which benefit is in play before filing it. You can apply online at VA.gov, by mail to the VA Pension Intake Center, or in person at a VA regional office.

Don't do this alone. The Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Advocacy and Assistance staffs accredited Veteran Service Officers who represent veterans on U.S. VA claims, and the VA says a VSO representative's services on a VA benefit claim are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge fees. Connecticut's Municipal Veterans Representative Program, directed by Connecticut General Statutes section 27-135, gives veterans an initial point of contact in each municipality.

For the full application walkthrough, see our VA Aid and Attendance guide.

Veteran-Directed Care

The Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) program gives veterans a flexible budget to hire their own caregivers, including family members. The veteran (or their representative) decides who provides care, what services to purchase, and how to manage the budget.

VA medical centers deliver VDC through aging and disability network agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging and aging and disability resource centers. Through an options counselor, the agency helps assess the veteran's needs and plan care, arranges fiscal management services, and keeps supporting the veteran. All enrolled veterans are eligible for VDC if they are eligible for community care, meet the clinical criteria for the service, and it is available. This is a good option for veterans who want control over their care and prefer family members as caregivers.

In Connecticut, VDC is delivered through participating VA medical centers, so ask the social work department at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven whether it's available in your area and confirm current openings before counting on it.

Payroll for a Connecticut VDC budget runs through a fiscal agent. The state's prior fiscal intermediary, Allied Community Resources, lists Aris Solutions at 866-970-3301 as the contact for CT VDC programs. That list is the outgoing vendor's own page, not a VA or DSS publication, so confirm the current agent with your VDC options counselor before you rely on that number.

Community Care Through the MISSION Act

The VA MISSION Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-182) has, since 2019, let enrolled veterans get care from community (non-VA) providers at the VA's expense. Two things always apply: the veteran must be enrolled in or eligible for VA health care, and must have approval from their VA health care team before getting care from a community provider, except in cases like urgent or emergency care. Beyond that, at least one of these must be true:

  • The VA can't offer an appointment within 20 days (primary care, mental health, and extended outpatient care) or 28 days (specialty care)
  • The average drive to a VA facility exceeds 30 minutes (primary care, mental health, and extended outpatient care) or 60 minutes (specialty care)
  • The care you need isn't available at any VA health facility
  • You and your VA provider agree that care from an in-network community provider is in your best medical interest
  • The VA can't provide the service in a way that meets its quality standards

On May 19, 2025, the VA streamlined that best-medical-interest pathway by implementing the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (Public Law 118-210, enacted January 2, 2025), removing the extra step of review by a second VA doctor and giving eligible veterans faster access to community care.

For Connecticut veterans living far from a VA medical center, the MISSION Act can be the difference between getting timely care and waiting months.

How VA Benefits Work with Medicare and Medicaid

VA benefits don't replace Medicare or Medicaid, a veteran isn't required to enroll in Medicare to keep VA health care, and an older veteran or surviving spouse can qualify for and receive VA pension and Medicaid at the same time., Generally, though, Medicare and VA can't pay for the same items or services, so you choose which coverage to use every time you get care, and VA health care is no shield against Medicare's Part B late-enrollment penalty: VA warns the penalty grows with every year you delay and is charged for the rest of your life.

  • VA + Medicare: Medicare pays for Medicare-covered services, and VA pays for VA-authorized services in a VA or non-VA facility. If VA authorizes only some of the services during a stay at a non-VA hospital, Medicare may pay for Medicare-covered services VA didn't authorize.
  • VA + Medicaid: In Connecticut, long-term-care Medicaid for aged, blind, and disabled residents is HUSKY C, administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS). Under general federal rules, a veteran's basic VA pension counts as income, but the Aid and Attendance portion paid to cover the cost of care is generally treated as reimbursement for medical care rather than countable income for Medicaid purposes. Connecticut is one of only eight states that elected the more restrictive 209(b) option, though, so its own eligibility rule governs that step and may differ from this federal rule. That exclusion applies at the eligibility step only. For an eligible nursing-facility resident, the federal post-eligibility section that reaches Connecticut, 42 CFR 435.733, says income disregarded at eligibility must be considered when working out what goes toward the cost of care. That section covers medical institutions, not home and community-based waiver services, and doesn't settle how Connecticut treats a full-rate Aid and Attendance amount, so ask DSS whether it raises what a resident pays and which deductions apply to you.,
  • The $90 pension cap: Don't budget the full Aid and Attendance check once Medicaid pays the nursing home. For a veteran with no spouse or child, or a surviving spouse with no child, whose nursing-facility care Medicaid covers, federal law caps the VA pension at $90 a month after the month of admission. That $90 is an aid and attendance allowance and not income, and the facility's Medicaid payment can't be reduced by it. Connecticut's Uniform Policy Manual (UPM 5035.20) then deducts a personal needs allowance equal to that $90 pension, plus the ordinary allowance, from the income a facility resident applies to the cost of care. The statute's definition of a nursing facility excludes a State home where VA pays a per diem for nursing home care, so check a Rocky Hill stay against that definition with an accredited Veteran Service Officer rather than assume the cap applies., If VA does pay that per diem, a separate federal rule applies instead: for such an eligible veteran or surviving spouse, pension above $90 a month, including Aid and Attendance, counts as income only toward the home's cost of nursing home care.,

Because the result turns on HUSKY C income limits, the medically needy spend-down, and how DSS counts each piece, confirm with DSS or an accredited representative before relying on any outcome.

How to Access VA Senior Care Benefits in Connecticut

1
Step 1

Confirm VA health care enrollment

If the veteran isn't already enrolled in VA health care, apply through VA's how-to-apply page. Once enrolled, the veteran is assigned to 1 of 8 priority groups, based on military service history, disability rating, income level, whether the veteran qualifies for Medicaid, and other benefits they receive. Higher priority groups get more benefits with lower or no copays.

2
Step 2

Get help filing

Don't file claims or applications alone. These resources can help:

  • Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Advocacy and Assistance: accredited Veteran Service Officers represent veterans on U.S. VA claims and help them apply for Veterans Pension and Aid and Attendance and Housebound benefits; the VA says a VSO representative's services on a VA benefit claim are always free. Find contact details and the nearest district office at portal.ct.gov/dva.
  • Municipal Veterans Representatives (VetReps): the state's Municipal Veterans Representative Program, directed by Connecticut General Statutes section 27-135, provides an initial point of contact in each municipality for veterans seeking assistance.
  • Your local VA medical center.
3
Step 3

Gather records

You'll need the veteran's DD-214 (discharge papers), medical records documenting the need for care, and financial information. If you can't find the DD-214, the National Personnel Records Center can provide copies (request through va.gov).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to be service-connected disabled to get VA long-term care?

Not for all programs. A veteran with any compensable service-connected disability rating, not only a 70 percent rating, is exempt from VA's extended-care copayments, so the long-term care VA provides or pays for carries no VA copayment. That exemption is from VA's own extended-care copayments; it says nothing about what a State Veterans Home or a private facility charges, so ask about those separately. But other enrolled veterans can access many programs too, depending on their priority group and available resources. Aid and Attendance doesn't require a service-connected disability at all. It requires wartime service, no dishonorable discharge, income and net worth within VA's limits, a need for aid and attendance (such as help with daily activities), and any one of four conditions: 65 or older, permanently and totally disabled, in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability, or receiving SSDI or SSI.

Can a veteran's spouse live in the Connecticut State Veterans Home?

The Rocky Hill campus is run by the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs and serves eligible Connecticut veterans. One program there, Patriots Landing, does take spouses and children: it provides temporary housing for Connecticut veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The Levitow Healthcare Center's admission test is about the veteran's own skilled nursing or daily-care needs. Contact CT DVA directly for current admission rules and availability.

How long does it take to get Aid and Attendance approved?

The VA's own answer is "It depends." It works claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing. Working with a CT DVA claims representative or an accredited VSO can speed up the process and reduce the chance of errors that cause delays. You can apply while your loved one is already receiving care.

Does the VA pay for assisted living?

The VA doesn't directly operate assisted living facilities, but Aid and Attendance is paid to the veteran as an increase to the monthly VA pension, and the household can put that money toward assisted living. Fees paid to the facility can also count as deductible medical expenses when VA calculates the award, on conditions. Payments for health care from a health care provider count. Payments for help with daily activities from other staff count if the veteran is receiving health care or custodial care in the facility and either needs aid and attendance, is housebound, or a physician, physician assistant, certified nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist has stated in writing that they need to be in a protected environment. Meals and lodging count only if the facility provides or contracts for the veteran's care, or one of those clinicians states in writing that the veteran must live there to receive it. Veteran-Directed Care is a different tool: its flexible budget is for hiring and supervising workers who help a veteran live at home or in their community, so ask the VA social worker making the referral whether it fits an assisted living plan. Connecticut veterans who qualify for HUSKY C Medicaid may also be able to use it toward care services, depending on the program.

Next Steps

If you're caring for a veteran who needs help, start by contacting the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs through portal.ct.gov/dva. Its accredited Veteran Service Officers help veterans apply for Veterans Pension and Aid and Attendance, and a VSO's help on a VA claim is always free.

Aid and Attendance isn't the only benefit worth claiming if the veteran owns their home. Connecticut runs its disabled veteran property-tax exemption on two separate tracks, one whose amount depends on the veteran's age, rating, and income, and one that fully exempts the veteran's share of a primary residence at a 100 percent permanent and total rating. Both are claimed at your town assessor rather than through the VA. Our guide to the Connecticut disabled veteran property tax exemption explains which track applies and what proof is due when.

Learn More

VA BenefitsVA benefits for senior care nationwideA complete guide to VA benefits for senior care: long-term care, Aid and Attendance, pensions, DIC, and home grants for older veterans and surviving spouses. VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in ConnecticutVA Aid and Attendance in Connecticut for 2026: who qualifies, monthly rates up to $2,874, how to apply, and free accredited help from the Connecticut DVA. MedicaidMedicaid Planning StrategiesSee which assets you keep, how the 5-year look-back works, and the legal moves that qualify you for Medicaid long-term care without losing the house. Care TypesCost of Senior Care in ConnecticutWhat senior care costs in Connecticut in 2026: assisted living about $9,118 a month, a nursing home about $182,500 a year. See every setting and how to pay. Care TypesNursing Homes in ConnecticutConnecticut nursing homes run about $182,500 a year for a semi-private room, among the highest in the nation. How to check quality and how Medicaid pays. Care TypesAssisted Living vs Nursing Home in ConnecticutAssisted living vs. a nursing home in Connecticut: level of care and who pays. About $9,118/month vs. $182,500/year, and where Medicaid steps in.
Your next step Find personalized help navigating VA senior care benefits in Connecticut at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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